Sweaters and Chains
by YourSimpleWallflower
Summary: It's been four years . . . Ever since their last moment in that town, the twins always wanted to visit again, but not like this. Now, they don't even have a choice.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh my gosh, I'm _so excited!" _she squealed, bouncing up and down on the seat. "I can't wait until we get there! Aren't you excited, Dipper?"

"Haha yeah," Dipper replied, giving his sister a simple smile before looking back down at his phone. Opening his messages, he noticed that Wendy had texted him back. **Yeah I think i'll stop by. It's been a while. **Once he read that, he gave another smile, and started writing back to her;

**Cool see you there then :)**

"You still texting Wendy?" Mabel asked, leaning in to read. "_Ohhhhh_ things are getting hot between you two, huh?" she joked, giving a small smirk.

"Oh shut up Mabel," he mumbled, pulling his phone away. They use to text a whole bunch after they'd left, but. . . well, it sort of died out. Along with his feelings for her, thankfully. Now that they were going back, though, it would be nice to see how she's doing. Besides, he only had that crush on her when he was twelve; he was a lot more mature now. Wendy was just one of the few people in the town who were actually cool.

"Relax, I was just _joking," _his sister said, giving him a small nudge on the arm. "Come on, could you at least _try _to have a bit of fun?"

"This _isn't _about fun, Mabel."

"Oh, quit being such a downer!" Mabel pulled up her bag from under the seat, and set it on her lap so she could pull out a light green headband. Looking at her reflection in the window, she carefully set it on her head, before hearing her brother let out a sigh. She turned her head. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Aren't you even a _little _upset?" Dipper asked, setting his phone down, and she noticed how solemn his expression was. "I mean, our parents went _missing, _and all we can do is stay in that old psycho-town. . ."

"Hey, I thought you liked that town? Remember the crazy adventures we always had? You know. . . gnomes, dinosaurs, portals, mermans?" Her smile widened into a grin as she mentioned the last one.

"Its _mermen _Mabel, and. . . well, yeah." He gave a small shrug, and looked down. "It was a lot of fun there, but well, with Mom and Dad gone. . ."

Their chat was replaced by an awkward and depressing silence for a bit. Mabel opened her mouth to say something, but stopped for a moment. "Hey. . . they'll find them, I promise."

"Yeah," he murmured, picking his phone back up and giving another shrug.

_Poor Dipper. . . _she thought, before turning her head to look out the window. There wasn't any way she was going to get him into a better mood right now, that was for sure. _They'll be back, _she told herself, watching the trees and shrubs on the side of the road just cruise by. Even though a part of her was just as hopeless about it as Dipper was, she refused to accept it. It was hard enough seeing her twin like this.

It didn't make any sense, though. It'd been about four years since the summer when they first visited the Mystery Shack, and for some reason, out of nowhere, their parents were just. . . gone. No blood, no tracks, just. . . _nothing! _Not even Dipper could find any clues. Well, besides one, but what use was it?_  
_

All that was left was some note on the door saying, **"Come back."**

Not even a fingerprint on it.

"Hey, whose the cutie?"

Pulled out of her thoughts, Mabel looked up and saw another teenager leaning over the seat with a hand to the side of her mouth. Her hair was black and pulled into a bun at the very top of her head, and her eyes were staring directly at her brother with a flirtatious smile ready-to-go. _Ew, _Mabel thought. Was this girl serious? What was with them wearing their hair up _at the very top of their head?_

It was just. . . no, just no.

And she was even making googly-eyes at her brother!

"Hey, lay off of him," Mabel defended her twin, while he just sat there unaware of the situation. That was the magic of headphones, after all.

"You two aren't _dating _or anything, are you?" the weird-hair girl asked.

"What?! Eww, no! He's my brother!"

"Oh, so does he have a girlfriend?"

"I said lay off, and no, he doesn't."

"Oh, so he's free?"

Ugh, what was _wrong _with this girl? "His girlfriend just broke up with him like a week ago!" she pointed out to her.

"Great then! So you're gonna set us up on a date?"

"No! What's _wrong_ with you?_"_

"Okay, sheesh!" The girl turned back to sit down. "Drrrrama-Queen!" the girl in front of them said.

Mabel let out an irritated huff as she laid back against the seat. Dipper was right. . . it really _was _no fun on this bus.

Hopefully things would get better once they reached the Shack.

_I bet Stan and Soos are excited to see us._

* * *

"Urgh, I am _not _excited about this!"

"Come on dude, we haven't seen them in what, like, two years?"_  
_

"It's been four, Soos," Stan replied, rolling his head back over the chair as his coffee mug just sat there. The steam was already gone, and all they had to listen to was the rain outside pounding against their roof. "Besides, what are we even gonna _tell _them?"

"Well can't you like. . . just, _not _tell them?" Soos asked as he sat down to join his boss at the table.

"Hmm, let's see." The man stood up with both of his hands pressed against the table. "There's barely _any_ tourists, the weather's acting like a bipolar psycho-bitch on it's period, and we can hardly pay for food since we're just about _broke_!" Pushing the chair in, he paced towards the window, where the rain was pouring down on it like a miniature tsunami. "I'm pretty sure they'd figure it out. . . those kids are smarter than you'd think."

"Oh yeah!" Soos took a bite of his cereal, and added with his mouth slightly-full, "And isn't that little psychic-dude gonna be released sometime?"

"Wait, _what?!"_

"Yeah." He swallowed, before setting his spoon down. "Everybody knows it."

"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me. . . " he grunted, laying his hand up on the side of his forehead. The Shack's owner walked back over, and sat down. "They're actually letting that little twerp go?"

"Hey, at least he can't really do anything to threaten us now, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Stanford grumbled. As slow as Soos was most of the time, he was right. That little punk couldn't really _do _anything to them now that he didn't have the town gawking over him. Not to mention that his mother moved out of town, and Bud Gleeful? Who knew where that guy went. Not to mention that _he _had all the journals now. What was the mutant gonna do, leave graffiti or something?

"Still though, that kid's a menace," he added, taking a chug from his mug. "I don't see why they don't just kick him out of town already."

"I think he's suppose to be, like, thirteen now."

"Ah, yep. One year older than when the kids both showed up."

"You gotta admit dude, we went through some crazy biz with those guys around!"

"Well they can't help sticking their noses in everything!" Soos's boss leaned his elbow on the table and held his head. "Those two. . ."

"The Mystery Twins!" Soos shouted, raising his hands up. "Dude, it's gonna be so cool having them back!"

"Yeah, who knows?" Stan faintly smiled, leaned back, and set both of his feet on the table while folding his arms behind his head. "Maybe they'll lead us to some _magic_ tree made of cash this time?"

"Aw dude, that'd be the best!"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Oh no dude, it's them!" Soos whispered loudly. "Quick, let's hide so we can scare the jeepers out of them!"

"Hold your horses, Soos," Stanford grumbled. He stood up again and walked over to the door to take a look. "Nevermind Soos! It's just Wendy," he shouted, stepping back into the kitchen doorway. "And get off the fridge, it's heavy enough as it is."

"Aww man. Ehh, ehh," he muttered, kicking his leg down. Half of his body was already on top of it while the other half was hanging. "Almost. . . _egh!" _he yelled, smashing onto the floor._  
_

"Hey, you guys mind if I hang here for a while?" Wendy asked once she showed up inside. "I promised Dipper I'd stop by."

"Oh, hey Wends!" Soos lifted his hand and his head up to greet her, before just laying them back against the floor.

"Ha! You think you can just come back here?" Laughed the Shack's owner, making Wendy roll her eyes.

"Nice try, Stan, but I'm _not _gonna work here again!" she stated, folding her arms together. "Just because I quit doesn't mean I can't come visit."

"Yes it does." Stan bluntly said. "Unless you're gonna pay for rent that is! How much should I charge ya?" he chuckled, getting out his wallet. "Twenty, ten. . . maybe _forty_ bucks?"

Wendy rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at seeing her old boss's greedy (and lame) sense of humor. There was a wicked smirk pasted across Stanford's face, while Soos picked up a cheerio from the ground and swallowed it. Yeah, so maybe she _did _miss working at the Shack a bit, but she wasn't going to admit it. Not to mention, she was nineteen now. An adult. It wasn't like she was gonna spend her whole life working here.

"So why you coming to see Dipper anyways?"

"Oh, you know, just to catch up a bit." Wendy gave a shrug. "Would also be cool to see Mabel again."

"Even with Dipper's _huge_ crush on you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's over that," she said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Hey, at least it wasn't as crazy as that obsession Gideon had with Mabel, am I right?" Soos mentioned.

"Ugh, the little creep better stay away from my niece."

"Relax, I bet he's totally forgotten about her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right Wendy," Stanford glanced out towards the window again, and snickered. "I mean, it's not like he has _pictures_ of her hung up in his cell."

"Dang, that would be just plain creepy."_  
_

"Well how do you know he _doesn't?_" Wendy asked, raising her eyebrow in a jokingly-suspicious way.

"Hah, the guy gets zero visitors anyways! Where's he gonna get them? Santa-Claus?"

"Oh dudes, they're here!"

"Wait, what?" Stan asked.

"Wow, that was quick."

"Quick you guys, hide!"

* * *

_"So, where are they?"_

_"Don't worry, I've got it all handled," the girl replied, tapping against the counter. Her dark brunette braid hung down over her shoulder, and she patiently looked down at her tapping finger until she got a response. From the other side of the glass, her younger cousin sat with the phone held up to his ear, and gave her a look of annoyance._

_"That didn't answer my question!"_

_She flinched. Just hearing the tone of her cousin's voice made her feel upset, and she felt a slight twinge in her chest before just pushing the feeling away. "Honestly, I don't get why we don't just . . . you know, get rid of them?" she questioned, before making the gesture of slicing her own head off._

_"All you ever want to do is get rid of things!" he griped, slamming his head against the counter and rising up a bit. "You just don't get it, we need them!"_

_"Oh, really? For what exactly?" his cousin said as sarcastically as she could, heightening her British accent a bit. _

_"You see, after all these years, I've realized that I'm too important to let myself get hurt by any of the filthy hazards in this here place"_

_"Your point being?"_

_"Sometimes it's best just to let others take care of things for ya."_

_"So is that what you're doing with _me?" _She leered at him, and noticed how his expression changed. At first he looked completely pleased with himself, but once she'd said that, he instantly frowned.  
_

_"No, don't be ridiculous," he implied, leaning forwards. The woman stared straight as his face came closer to her, and she could feel herself begin to heat up. It'd been so long since she'd actually noticed his facial features. It'd all changed so much. . . all except for his eyes. Those deep, persuading eyes of his. _Ignore it, just ignore it for now, _she told herself, repeating those words in her head until her cousin spoke again. "Don't forget you'll be getting something out of this too."__  
_

_"Oh, yeah?" _

_"Hey, your time's up."_

_Looking over her own shoulder, the brunette saw the security guard still standing a distance away, leaning against the wall. From the looks of it, the guy was barely paying any attention at all since he seemed bored out of his damn mind. "I'll tell you the rest later!" the boy said through the phone, before hanging it up and giving her a nod. _You better. . . _she thought, before turning away to leave. She'd glanced back to the glass, but just to see that her younger relative was already gone.  
_

_"Don't forget to sign your name."_

_After taking another look at the man, the girl decided to just let her guard down in general. It was obvious that screwball wasn't going anywhere while staring down at his phone. Normally she hated signing stuff, but just to mess around a bit, she decided to walk over to the desk in the corner of the room, where the sign-out sheet was. She picked up the pen, and began to scribble down onto the paper._

**Lord McI'llCutYou Junior.**

_Yep, that sounded about right._

_Time?_

** 300 A.D. ** to **the**** apocalypse (AKA your birthday). **

_Perfect. _

_Once she dropped the pen down, the mischievous smirk on her face grew when she found that the security guard was_ still _not paying attention. _

_Oh, this was just too easy. . . _

_Her hand slipped over the desk to the other side, and quietly opened up a drawer. Inside of it was a magnifying glass, a whole bunch of papers, and a super-cheap-looking letter opener. Other than that, all there was was just a bunch of cute photos and stickers that made her want to vomit. God how stupid was this place suppose to be? _I guess this could work, _she suggested, picking up the letter opener. Even though it was dull and looked like it was made for some old hag, it was still the most threatening thing there was. _

_"Alright, I'll be leaving," she shouted to the guard after sticking the blade into one of the pockets placed in the inside of her jacket._

_"Please, come again," the guy replied, but with how bored he sounded, he might as well have said, "You're completely nothing so whateves, do whatever, see if I care."_

_"Don't worry, I won't need to."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: So I really wanna thank everybody who wrote a review on the first chapter! :) It surprised me, actually. I hope this chapter is a lot better (I'll admit I over-used italics on the last one, so I'll try to take it easy this time haha.) **

* * *

After opening the door, Dipper stepped into the Shack with his sister right behind him. "Hello?" he asked, dragging his luggage in before starting to slip off his jacket. Mabel walked in after him, and set everything down onto the floor. "Grunkle Stan? Soos?" Dipper asked once he laid his jacket down on top of the suitcase.

"Maybe they're all down at the diner?" his twin suggested, kneeling down to take off her shoes.

"No, I don't think so," Dipper responded, and decided to follow his sister's act as he took his sneakers off. The rain outside left the both of them soaked by the time they got inside, and Dipper remembered how his Grunkle was about the shack. After he nearly lost it about twelve times, it was just the respectful thing to do._  
_

"I'll go look around," Mabel said after she set both of her shoes by the door, and walked through the doorway into the kitchen. "Maybe they're over in th- _Aaach!"_

There was a huge slam on the floor, making all of the knickknacks shake and tremble.

"Mabel?!" Dipper yelled, instantly taking off into the same room where his sister was. "Oh god oh god oh god!" he repeated. If his sister already got hurt by some monster he-

"Haha gotcha Mabes!"

"What-the?" he breathed, standing right in the doorway as he gazed in, seeing Mabel backed up against the wall. Soos was laying down on the floor by the fridge, pointing up at her with a dorky smile on his face. "Heheh, dude you should've seen the look on your face! It was like. . ." In a second, he made a panicked expression to try to mimic Mabel's, which was gone now as she relaxed, before letting out a laugh.

"Whoof! You really had me there Soos!" she said, sounding relieved.

"What did you do, like, jump off the fridge or something?" Dipper asked, not really finding this humorous at the moment, but still feeling really relieved. Pressing his fist against his chest, he tried to slow his breathing down. _Just calm down, _he told himself. It was just same-old Soos, being a doof as usual. Trying to play along, he forced a smile, but even though he seemed to pull it off alright, he just wasn't as happy and giggly as his sister right now. Mabel's scream had made him feel completely defensive, and he was about ready to punch anything that got even remotely close to her right now.

He already lost both his parents; knowing this town, he was going to make sure nothing happened to his twin, either.

"Exactly, dude!" the man-child replied, standing up.

"And it didn't hurt you?" Mabel asked.

"Hmm, I guess all my belly-fat must have absorbed the impact or something," he joked, patting his belly.

"Well seems like you haven't changed a bit," Dipper said, setting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, unlike you dudes!" Soos chuckled, walking over to him and holding his hand up to Dipper's head. "You two have changed a whole lot! Haha, man, Stan's gonna flip when he sees you two."

"Hey, where is Stan?" Mabel asked, setting her hands against her hips as she looked around. Dipper was about to make a suggestion, before a hug crash rang throughout the house, followed by a recognizable, "Oooowww! Ugh, dang Christmas box!" All three of them stared towards the doorway, where a glittery purple bauble rolled out across the floor. Following it, a chubby pink animal walked out, and looked up at them.

"Oh my gosh, _Waddles!"_

Before Dipper could even move, his twin raced over to her pig, got down on her knees and hugged him tightly. "Oh Waddles, look at you!" she squealed, cupping the pig's plump face. "You're so big and chubby now!" Laughing, she hugged Waddles again. "You missed me, didn't-cha?" The pig oinked at her twice, and Mabel gasped. "Dipper, did you hear that?! He said, 'Mabel!' again!"

"Mabel, I don't think-"

"Shhhhh," Soos shushed him, and Dipper flinched as the man held his hand over his mouth. "Let her soak it in, bro. . ."

"Ugh, Soos, I'm gonna need you to clean up all the Christmas ornaments in the closet."

From the same doorway that Waddles had walked in, Stan stepped in, rubbing the side of his head. All he had on was a pair of gray boxers, along with a huge dull-red t-shirt. Other than that, he had on a pair of dark blue slippers, glasses, and that gold medal he often wore around his neck. At least he had less of a gut now, though.

"Sir, yes sir!" the man-child answered, giving a determined-yet-goofy salute to his boss, before leaving the kitchen.

"Ah, so how're you two kiddos doing?" their Grunkle asked them, folding both his arms together.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel shouted excitedly, standing up to instantly hug their great uncle. Dipper glanced to the side, but couldn't help but look back as Stanford awkwardly smiled and chuckled, before hugging Mabel back. "

"Jeez kid, look at you!" Stan bellowed. "Get any taller and I might have to shrink ya with that flashlight we have!"

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Dipper added, walking over to stand beside them. "The one we used to grow Soos back?"

Yep, Dipper remembered that well. After that kid with the cotton-candy hair tried taking the Shack, they tried to glue the crystal back together because Soos was still shrunk, but it was no use. So, they had to go into the woods again to find one of them instead. At the time, he still thought that Stan didn't believe in the supernatural, but they just decided to hide the flashlight in the house. They hadn't used it since, but it could still come in handy at some point.

"Well, well, if it isn't Dipper!" Stan said tauntingly. "The old man of the house!"

"Ahah, hey. . ." Dipper answered, awkwardly waving his hand.

"Aw come on! Don't tell me you're too grown up now to give your Grunkle some attention!" Stanford complained as he walked over and wrapped his arm around Dipper's neck, pulling him in to give the kid a noogie on the head. "Haha, good to see ya champ!"

"Ugh, Stan!" Dipper grunted, trying to struggle away. "I'm too old for this!" Shoving his Grunkle's arm off, Dipper backed away and began to flatten his hair back up. Obviously, their Grunkle didn't change a bit either. _Typical, _he thought. You'd figure that after all they'd been through, Stan would be showing more of his mature side by now.

"Alright, sheesh!" The old man lifted both of his hands up. "Remind me not to get on _your_ bad side!" he said sarcastically.

"Wow, somebody's turned into an old grump!"_  
_

_Wendy? _

Turning around, Dipper saw the girl he use to hang out with, and blinked. Her red hair was up in a cute messy-bun, and she didn't have that lumberjack-hat he always saw her with. Wendy still had on a pair of muddy rain boots and jeans, but instead of her plaid shirt, she had on a black raincoat at the moment. From what it seemed, she was still taller than him, but not by much anymore. She had both of her arms folded, and was smiling at him.

"Wait, grump?" he echoed, squinting one of his eyes in confusion.

"Haha yeah, don't tell me you're getting worse than Stan," she teased him, tilting her head in the direction of her former boss.

"Hey! _Nobody _has the skills to be more terrible than me!"

"Oh I don't know, you could've gotten soft over the years," Mabel provoked him, resting her hand on her chin and giving him a silly, suspicious-look.

Glancing back at his Grunkle, Dipper couldn't help but give a real smile at this. Despite having their parents gone, he had to admit, it was nice to see everyone like this. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that nobody changed? After all, seeing his family and friends joke around like this. . . it was, actually enjoyable. It reminded him _exactly _of all those amazing times he'd spent here, and nothing else in his life ever compared to that.

"Don't push kid," Stanford pushed his finger against Mabel's forehead with a smirk. "Challenging me will only make things hard for you."

"That's what he said."

"_WENDY!"_

That second, Dipper saw his friend bust-up laughing. Wendy bent forwards just laughing her head off as she clenched her stomach, resting her hand on the side of the wall. "Oh man! Hahaha I'm sorry you guys, I just had to say it!" Holding his hand up to his mouth, Dipper tried to keep himself from laughing with her, but he could feel himself shaking trying to hold it all in.

"Hey dudes, what'd I miss?" Soos said, leaning his head to look in.

"Ugh, I'm glad I fired you," Grunkle Stan grumbled.

"Umm, I'm pretty sure I _quit._"

"Not how I remember it."

"Haha you guys," Mabel chuckled, before walking past all of them. "Well, I'm gonna take all our stuff to the rooms." Before passing by her brother, though, she stopped right in front of him. "Oh yeah! And you can take Waddles out!"

"Wait, what?" Definitely knowing his sister was literal, he raised both of his hands up and shook them in front of her. "No no no, I'm _not _taking a pig out in all this rain and-"

"Actually, dude, it's all cleared up now," Soos interrupted.

"Told you it was bipolar. . ."

"Well, still! Can't you just take Waddles out by yourself?" he asked, and everyone could tell just by his tone that he wasn't up for it. All he wanted was to take all his stuff and get to rest; maybe even read one of the novels he brought. Taking a pig outside to roll around in a bunch of mud was the last thing he wanted to do!

"Dipper, chill- out-," she said, pausing in between her words. "Just take him outside for like a few minutes, it'll be fine!"

"Yeah, it's just getting dark anyways," Wendy added. "Better now than later."

"Ugh, fine."

"Hey, er, you sure he won't get in any danger, like when that humongous dino-bird snatched him?"

Being reminded of that incident, Dipper noticed how his twin had froze, before giving a shrug. "I mean, I'm sure Dipper won't turn his back on him, _right _Dipper?"

_On no, not this. . . _the boy thought, seeing his twin give him an ice-cold glare. The one thing anybody rarely ever got from Mabel was a death-glare. Just seeing her like this sent chills through him, and in reaction, his mind played the memory of her when she was younger— repetitively banging her head against the totem pole outside.

Heaving a sigh, he mumbled, "Right."

"Thanks Dipper!"

Running off to where they'd left all their luggage, Mabel disappeared from everyone's site, leaving them to look at her brother. "Come on," Dipper muttered, half to himself. Taking what he assumed was Waddle's, 'leash,' (practically just a worn-down rope with a loop.) he set it around the pig's neck and tightened it as best as he could. Without hurting his sister's pet that is.

"It'll be fine, dude. What're the odds of somethen' happening on the first day?" Soos suggested.

_We nearly got killed by a bunch of gnomes on our first day! _As much as he wanted to yell that out loud, he decided not to bother with it. Still, it _was _four years ago. . . besides, they all knew a lot more now than they did before. It might've not technically been beneficial, but it was still relaxing to know who wrote the journals and all that.

"Just encase though," he heard his Grunkle say from behind him. It was then the old man's footsteps echoed, and Dipper turned around, feeling a bit curious. They all waited until he came back, holding a flashlight in his hands. On it was a small crystal, both tied and taped to stay attached. Stanford held the handle out to his nephew. "Here, take this."

"You still think there are things out there?" he couldn't help but ask, taking the device from him.

"Kid, I _know _there are. Just because you know all the mysteries doesn't mean things are gonna change."

"Right," he said again, before turning away to walk Waddles outside. Mabel had already passed by carrying one of the suitcases, so she didn't see them as he opened the door and led the pig out, still keeping a tight grip on the rope. Slipping his shoes on and shutting the door behind him, Dipper took a few steps before he gazed up at the sky. It wouldn't be long until it was night; the clouds were still gathered giving the sky a shady, dark look to it, and the wind gave him shivers since his jacket was still inside.

"Alright, just a few minutes," he reminded himself, and let Waddles lead the way over to a huge patch of mud nearby. With no other choice, Dipper watched the pig roll around and bathe in the wet earth, and he leaned his head back. Again, why couldn't Mabel have done this instead? It wasn't like _he _couldn't have carried all their stuff to the rooms. It was her pig, her responsibility, right?

Not to mention, it'd been Stan's responsibility ever since they'd left. To be honest, he was still surprised Waddles was even alive. Yeah, so maybe that was a bit harsh, but it was the truth. For the pig to be alone with Stan and Soos for four years; part of him suspected that this pig wasn't even Waddles, but just some decoy they got.

If only he still had Tara, and his parents, then he wouldn't be feeling this depressed at all. Ha, he wouldn't even be here! No, he'd be out at the park, and he'd be reminding her of the different constellations in the sky. Tara would then say, "Well I think the sky's still missing one," and would lift his hair up to tap her finger against his birthmark, and he loved the way she always giggled at it. It was adorable.

Of course, though, reality was completelyagainst him being happy in any way. Sure, it was fine with his _twin _being happy, but no, not him. The world loved Mabel— everyone did! Just as she always teased him, she was the, "Alpha-Twin." Even if she was just joking, it still wasn't fair at all. The time Mabel got her first kiss, he got fired from a job. That time she got Waddles, he ended up getting his heart broken. Now, she was all excited about seeing these old friends of hers while he nearly got everything taken from him!

Drawing his attention out of his thoughts, in a split-second Waddles had stopped squirming in the mud. Looking back down at the pig, he saw the animal staring in a direction out towards the woods. In the distance,

"Who's there?" Dipper demanded, holding up the flashlight. Just as he did earlier when Mabel got scared, Dipper let all of his defenses rise up again, and he started to carefully drag Waddles back to the Shack. Still aiming the device around him, the boy opened the door and nudged the pig inside with his foot, not bothering to worry about the mud. Soos could just clean that up later.

Once again, Dipper shut the door, but this time he wasn't inside with the pig. He was standing in front of the door, looking all around as he switched on the flashlight, pointing it at his other hand to watch it grow. He switched the crystal around to set it back to normal, and was glad to know which setting it was on. The best thing to do with a threat was to shrink it, so he wanted to make sure he had the setting ri-

_"Hheeeeeehhh-huuuuuu-heeehhh," _a deep breathing sounded from nearby, and all his muscles tensed up while the teen backed up until he was flat-against the door.

_Get out of here! _he wanted to scream, but he was beginning to feel too edgy by the heavy sighs, which seemed to be getting louder and rougher by the second.

As in: closer.

The worst part was how he couldn't even tell which direction it was coming from, and the sky still seemed to be getting dimmer and darker by the second.

_That's it! _Reaching back to grab a hold of the doorknob, Dipper flung it back to dart inside, slamming it shut behind him. Panting slightly under his breath, he kept a tight grip on the flashlight, and peered down just to find Waddles sitting right in front of him, looking completely ignorant as usual. _"_Yeah, there's no way I'm taking you back out there."

After taking his shoes off and the rope off the pig, Dipper sloppily went into the living room and fell forwards onto Stan's chair, closing his eyes tiredly. It felt bad not to hang out some more with Wendy and everyone else, but right now? He'd probably feel a lot better by tomorrow. . . he probably seemed super-paranoid around everyone, and he probably was. You couldn't blame him, though. With everything that'd happened, and to be back in this town, of _all places, _he had the right to be.

This moment on the chair; it was all he wanted right now. Just to relax, and not think or stress about anything. Whatever was outside with them, he'd have to worry about it later. Whatever it was, he'd just ask Stan for one of the books later— then deal with it. All he needed to do was rest. After all, nothing could ever go wrong when he was asleep.

* * *

_They could both hear the water dripping down onto the ground beneath them. That was all they had right now; their sight was gone, overwhelmed by the darkness flooding the room. Aside from the water dripping in the earlier rain, all they could hear was both of their lungs roughly breathing in the crude air. The man didn't bother to move his arms, knowing that struggling wouldn't help. His arms were sore enough already, just from being stretched out for this long. And his legs? Couldn't even shift them, they were completely braced up to the side of the wall, while his arms hung in two, tightening chains from the ceiling._

_As for the woman beside him, she suffered the same. _

_Outside of the door, a staircase let up to where another being stood, glaring down knowing what was inside. It was perfect. After this, in only a few days, the rest would be exactly where they were meant. It just took patience— clever planning and craft, and this time, no one was going to stop it. Everything would go perfect; that was for sure._

_Now, it was time to take them, and then, the real fun would begin. . . _


End file.
